Colours
by Sheankelor
Summary: So, what if Severus learned a bit about the colour theory? About how different colours affected people, what those colours told about people? And then walked into Hogwarts with that knowledge colouring his perception? This is just a run of short segmented scenes with no real plot - it just focuses on the above idea and keeps Severus alive in the end. EWE. Written for SuNoYo.


_An: This is about as far from beta-ed as you can get. So, if you see any glaring mistakes, just PM me and let me know. I'll get it fixed. -ed: 9-3 - Yen ran through it for me. Anything left is still my own mistakes. Thanks for the fine toothed comb, ladio!  
_

_This was written for SuNoYo in hopes of making her day a bit brighter, and her nights a bit more soothing.  
_

_Enjoy!_

_Ree_

_Colours_

Colours have meanings, that was something that Severus had learned early on in his life. Lily had been interested in how colours affected people when Petunia had become obsessed with auras, colour theory and colour therapy. He had listened with amazement on how the wavelengths of light seem to elicit some type of physical response from people, but what had amazed him more was the aura reading Petunia was buying into. How a person's _colour _could tell you about their moods. Petunia always said his aura was black - not that he believed that Lily's sister could see anything.

Lily's interest had changed to an obsession which had driven him to learn as much as possible about what the colours meant, but he didn't feed her obsession. If she wanted information, she had to go find it herself. After one long year, his eight year old friend found something else to interest herself in. Pressing flowers and herbs had been a lot more satisfying and fun to learn about.

Even though it had been a long time ago, ages to the eleven year old, the moment Severus walked through the doors of the Great Hall, all the information came rushing to the forefront of his mind. Others were staring up at the ceiling, gaping at the floating candles, or worrying about how they were going to be sorted into the different houses. He was checking out the colours of the banners hanging on the wall.

'_Red, Yellow, Blue and Green. Three primary colours and one secondary. Red- the colour of power, passion and strength. They show authority and a bit of risk taking to get to the top, to lead. Yellow – slightly less power than Red, but still quite powerful. Bright, cheerful – they can keep a smile and trudge forward. Blue – calm and cool. They excel at mental tasks but are by no means weak. They get things done in their own time. Then there is Green – the colour of healing. They are balanced between the short wavelengths and long wavelengths of the light spectrum. They value communication and think about what is happening.' _

A quick glance at Lily showed that she was totally enraptured in the ceiling. Holding in a sigh, he thought about what colour he would want to represent him. Looking between the four houses, he was drawn to the green of Slytherin. If the colours were right, they would be the Healers of the Wizarding world. Maybe not in the sense that they would all take a Healer's Oath, but that they were the ones equipped to help cure the ills through politics, defense, or any other field that they saw as necessary to step into. They would provide balance.

The Sorting started and Severus watched as the Hat matched the children with their colour. Calm restful went to the blues, high energetic went to the reds, bright happy went to yellows and the middle grounds went to the greens. When Lily went into Gryffindor, he wasn't surprised – she was definitely a risk taker and a leader. He knew that he wouldn't follow her there. He was either destined to the Blues or the Greens. He was hoping for the Greens.

-RYBG-

It took less than a year for Severus to discover that there was a problem in the Wizarding world. A dark shadow was moving among the bright colours, dulling their appearance. He had hoped that the Slytherins' would follow their hue, that they would be the Healers that they were intended to be. Instead he saw the others attacking them, deriding them, cursing them, not allowing them to preform their duty. It was then that he noticed that the disease had infiltrated the house of the Healers.

Over the next several years, the darkness dug deeper into the Green that he tried to hold faith to. He watched as others of his house fell to the Dark Lord's lure and allowed their Green to become gangrenous. He watched as several of the Yellows become putrid, and the Blues to become bruises. Even the Red mottled. The sickness was taking over.

He lost Lily at the end of his fifth year. It was aggravation and frustration that had caused him to speak the wrong words, but it was the disease that caused her not to forgive. Even though she was not mottled, she was hardened against the house of the Greens because of the gangrenous colour it was taking.

Severus learned to be a Potions Master while he fought off the lure that was cast at him. He was intent on being a Healer for this disease and he had to know how to cure what was coming. His fall into the darkness was not planned. It was as if the illness crept into his blood and, sick, he fell before the Dark Lord.

-RYBG-

Severus leaned against the wall, staring out the windows at the dawn breaking over the horizon. Dumbledore had not been kind, nor gentle, but he needed neither. _'I wanted to be a Healer of the Wizarding world. That was before I realized that the disease was not just infecting Slytherin, but actually coming from the house of Healers. It has taken over us, corrupting us, making it so that we cannot heal what needs to be.'_ Leaning his head against the window pane, he let the coolness of the glass settle him. He had a job to do. He was to spy on the Dark Lord and report back to Dumbledore.

'_I am a Healer that caught the illness, but I have defeated it in myself. I am now the only one that a vaccine can be made from, the only one with the antibodies that have won against the darkness. I might not be the Healer, but I can aid in the cure.' _

-RYBG-

It wasn't long after Lily's death and the disappearance of the Dark Lord that Severus charted out his plan of action. He was going to vaccinate- immunize- every single child that stepped into his classroom. He was going to teach them fear, and how to face it. Just like with a good vaccine, one in which you are exposed to the disease causing agent and your body learns to defeat it, they were going to fear him more than they could ever imagine, and when they ever had to face the Dark Lord, they would know how to work around that fear.

Standing in his room, he looked at his wardrobe, deciding what colour he wanted to wear. What colour would he present to the student population. _'Not green... it is too bright, and will remind them only of Slytherin. Any other colour is a shade or combination of the other three houses, so they will not work either. White is the combination of all three primary colours when they are light beams... that might work, but they would be messy and I honestly think it wouldn't scare them. Gray maybe? When you blend the opposites you get a gray tone instead of a true colour.'_

He sighed as he searched his wardrobe, looking for a robe that struck him as intimidating. He found a black one, and a rare smile graced his face. _'Black... the presence of all colours. When the wavelengths of light are added together, they become white, but when pigments are added together, they become black. It is a colour of shadows, it is intimidating, but it represents all the houses, all the parts of our section of the Wizarding world – the parts I am trying to save.'_

Severus made sure to tuck a swatch of true green into the pocket of his black waistcoat before he headed off to the Great Hall. It was a reminder of what he was trying to accomplish, what he wanted to be.

-RYBG-

The moment that Harry Potter walked through the doors into the Great Hall, Severus had known that the boy was a Green. Harry was to be the healer that destroyed the disease that was affecting the House and the Wizarding world. When the child refused his proper colour, Severus saw red. Watching Harry among the risk taking Gryffindors, he wanted to demand the child change tables. He wasn't going to learn what he needed in that House. He would not plot out how to cure the illness with cunning accuracy, instead he would rush in and rely on luck to help him through. No good Healer would ever do that to a patient.

As Severus stormed into the Slytherin/Gryffindor first year class, he cast a scathing look at the brat wearing the wrong colour. _'He needs to be vaccinated more than anyone else, especially as he is in the wrong place. Everyone of those Gryffindors in his year need to learn.'_

That started Severus on a treatment plan that most would never understand.

-RYBG-

At the end of Potter's first year, Severus decided that the boy's placement might have been for the best, not that he would change his treatment plan. It was around Halloween that he had noticed there were other wrongly placed colours in the Red House, and they were starting to congregate around the boy. The youngest male Weasley was a true Red, but Granger was a Blue in hiding. It took a bit longer for the Yellow hiding in the Red to move into Potter's circle, but Longbottom made it eventually.

The years passed and Potter's group blamed him for many things, things that he saved them from, but in truth, he saw this as his vaccination of them working. He wanted to be their biggest fear. For Longbottom it was the truth, the Boggart showed that. Yet the boy walked into his classroom and faced his fear every potions class. Granger's fear of failing was childish unless you knew her true colour. He was attempting to devise a way to make her face that fear and overcome it. All Ravenclaws failed at least one assignment in his class. He knew that Weasley had already faced his worst fear and had fought bravely. More importantly, he ran when he couldn't win, not out of fear.

-RYBG-

Severus was not happy when the Dark Lord came back in the flesh. He had known it was going to happen, but it didn't change his opinion about it. The disease once again was back full force, and he was once again the Healer who had to pretend to be sick to help the cure win.

The year that Harry was off doing as any good Healer would do, killing all the pockets of the disease, Longbottom showed his true colours. Severus knew that many thought Longbottom was finally showing his Gryffindor traits, but he knew that it was truly the Hufflepuff coming through. Never rile up a badger, it would defend it home and kin fiercely. Add to that the fact that the boy was standing up to him almost made Severus smile. The vaccination worked.

-RYBG-

Severus was propped against the wall in the Shrieking Shack, his blood pour out of him as fast as his memories. As Granger gathered them into a vial, he thought of her as an assistant Healer to Harry who was leaning over him. Severus sighed and looked deep into the green eyes that were watching him. Those eyes showed the young man's true calling, his true affiliation. He permitted himself a mental smile. He had done his job. He had done his best to vaccinate all the current children and the ones of past generations. He had brought as much immunity as he could to the ones that were being poisoned the most. Now, like any good vaccine, he would die. He was fine with that, peace was waiting for him on the other side.

He felt a vial pressed against his lips as he wondered if there was some way to get a set of dark rich green robes to wear there. He was ready to show his true colours. Swallowing the contents of the vial, he wondered briefly what Harry was giving him, not that it mattered. A swish and a whispered spell brought the feeling of compression about his neck as blackness fell over his eyes.

-RYBG-

Severus hadn't expected to wake up, at least not in the Shrieking Shack, and he wasn't expecting to see Poppy kneeling next to him her wand pointed at him running scans. "What..." The word came out as a croak, not recognizable at all, but Poppy understood which proved to Severus that she had been working in the Infirmary for too long. _'Maybe not too long. Is she dead, or am I still alive?'_

Poppy flashed a tired smile at the uncertain expression on the Headmaster's face. "Do not try to talk, Severus. That snake did a number on your throat. I am going to take you back to the castle. The Infirmary is full, as is the Great Hall, so I am going to put you in the Headmaster's quarters for now."

She had maneuvered him through quiet halls and back ways that only a few even realized where there. All her doubts about her friend's allegiance was put to rest when every single portrait cheered as they passed. The noise level was almost deafening as she floated him through the Headmaster's office.

Lying on his bed, Severus looked at the multitude of colours that ran riot through the room. Soaking in their warm, clear tones, he let them fill the darkness that had shrouded his true colour for so long.

-RYBG-

Shacklebolt listened once again to the members of the Wizengamot as they demanded that Snape be placed into Azkaban while awaiting for his trial. Finally, he gave into the aggravation that was filling him at every word that they said. "Go get him. If you can get Hogwarts to let him go, then, by all means, put him into Azkaban - but do realize that every portrait, every ghost, house elf, and creature in the Forbidden Forest will do whatever it takes to keep Snape there. They like him and have declared that he is innocent."

The whining and demands stopped when the third group of aurors were ejected off Hogwarts ground, the last set by a herd of thestrals. Snape would reside at Hogwarts until the time for his trial.

-RYBG-

Severus scrubbed a hand over his face, trying to rub the tiredness out of it. He had too much to do to indulge in a break. The door opened and he dropped his hands before facing Minerva. "The repair crews have found a place to sleep?"

There was an soft rustle from every portrait as they turned their backs on the Deputy Headmistress. Severus rolled his eyes and sighed while he shook his head. Every single previous Head of the school was mad that the other Professors had not trusted in him and that they had ran him off right before the end. He had scolded them for telling Minerva and the others off, so now they just pointedly ignored them.

Minerva frowned at the portraits before shifting her gaze to Severus. At least he wasn't holding their actions against them. "They have. Tomorrow we shall start on the West towers."

Severus nodded, "Then we need to get a good nights rest. I'll see you in the morning, Minerva."

"Till the morning." Minerva headed out doing her best to ignore the canvases on the walls.

Spinning his chair about, Severus faced Albus' portrait. The blue-eyed man had turned back around as Minerva slipped out the door. "Stop it. You don't need to punish them any more. You never needed to in the first place. Their reaction just shows how well I played my part. Take their actions as a compliment instead of an insult."

-RYBG-

Shacklebolt walked into the Headmaster's office and tried to imagine how he was going to do what was required of him. Somehow he had to transport every single portrait off those walls and set them up in the courtroom. They had insisted on being present at Severus' trial. Pulling out his wand he began the tedious process.

The next morning, Severus and the entire faculty of Hogwarts entered the courtroom for Severus' trail. Almost every empty spot on the floor had an easel holding a portrait that had once graced the walls of the Headmaster's office. Severus took the prisoner's chair as the others settled wherever they could.

"Severus Snape, you are accused of murdering Albus Dumbledore, how do you plead?" Shacklebolt wondered what Snape's answer would be, he truly had no clue. He had not expected the portrait of Dumbledore to answer for him.

"Severus did kill me, but it was extenuating circumstances. I was terminally ill and he was giving me a dignified death. I requested it of him." Albus' blue eyes twinkled merrily at the group of people he once was a member of.

"And this is a legal action?" Shacklebolt had heard of it before, but he didn't know of a single person that had performed such a deed until now.

"Perfectly legal." It was Phineas Nigellus Black that spoke up. "Been allowed since a Muggle hunted a Wizard. I'm sure Albus had the proper documentation prepared."

"Call for Madam Pomfrey, she has my medical records," said Albus.

Shacklebolt sent for both Madam Pomfrey and the Head of St. Mungo's. He would know if the law was still in standing.

Master Vegal made it to the courtroom first. His eyes widened at the sight before him. "How can I be of assistance, Minister?"

Shacklebolt leaned forward a bit as he fixed a steady look on the man. "Is there a law that will allow someone to give a terminally ill patient a dignified death? To kill them before the disease does?"

Pomfrey walked into the room carrying Albus' medical file. Shacklebolt acknowledged her presence before turning his attention to Vegal's answer.

Vegal blinked in surprise before answering, "Yes, there is. The terminally ill patient has to sign a permission form before they get close to the end of their life. It can also be signed by warriors before they head into battle."

"Madam Pomfrey had the medical file of Albus Dumbledore. Will you look through it and see if his death might qualify to be covered under this law?"

Vegal's eyes almost popped out as he accepted the file. It didn't take him long to go through the information. "It does. Professor Dumbledore signed the permission form before his fight with Grindelwald and the records show that he was fighting a curse that was terminal when Snape killed him." He snapped the folder shut before looking at the man whose freedom he was saving.

Severus knew he should care more about the proceeding, this was his freedom that they were deciding, but his mind was wandering back to Hogwarts and the repairs that needed to be handled. He had a school to heal. Focusing back on the courtroom, he heard the Wizengamot pronounce him innocent.

Striding out of the dark room, Severus headed back to school, leaving the collection of portraits for someone else to handle.

-RYBG-

Severus accepted that he wasn't the one to cure the Wizarding world. He knew that he had to recruit the one that had to come help at the school, but first Harry had to be tested. The young man had to show that he knew what he was doing in Defense. Under the guise of testing to be accepted into the Aurors, Severus watched Harry prove beyond a doubt that he was good at what he did. As for teaching, the young man had proved he could do that in his fifth year.

A few well placed comments and looks secured Severus the Defense Professor that he wanted. All those years of teaching the children of the Wizarding world to fear him worked for him once again.

-RYBG-

Harry strode through the halls, heading towards the Great Hall. Students were coming tonight and he wanted to be sure that he was sitting next to the Headmaster. Snape had proved to be an interesting companion during the summer months as he prepared for his classes. As he settled in to the coveted seat, he felt his jaw drop. Severus was not wearing black.

Severus quirked his lips into an almost smile at the look on Harry's face. Adjusting a fold of his pine green robe, he nodded to Filius to open the door. It was time to greet the students that were returning. Scanning the groups that filled the tables, he was pleased to see that each one was a shining representative of their colour. Gone were the putrid yellows, gangrenous greens, bruised blues, and the mottled reds and all that were left were true, rich, health versions of the colours.

Settling back into his seat, he watched as Minerva brought in the First Years. It was time the newest find their spot and show off their colours.


End file.
